UCLA to move to the Big Ten… What does this mean for UCLA gymnastics?
Someday every D1 school will be in either the Big 10 or SEC. The Big 10 will have over 50 schools but still be called the Big 10.
In order to foster rivalries and maintain even schedules, each conference will be split into divisions, and subdivisions. The subdivisions will be based along old conference affiliations and will look like they did before all this conference realignment madness happened.
It means I’d have to figure out how to watch Big 10 gymnastics? ?
Seriously this is why I hate college sports now (I’m old enough to remember when the Big East was… East Coast!). I wish UCLA and USC would have asked West Virginia about how the Big 12 move has gone for them (a lot of travel). (I love the even numbers no longer have meaning - see also the Big 12 with less than 12 teams and the Big 10 with… I’ve lost count? 14 maybe?) *referring to football/bball teams - I’m aware there are fewer gym teams!
This is being done FOR football obviously and it really screws ALL the other athletes - most other teams have way more games than football does and hence travel a lot more. (Gymnastics actually lucks out here because they do typically only have one meet a week - sports like basketball - where competing on a week night AND a weekend in the same week is common could end up with a nightmare travel schedule changing times zone multiple times over a week).
TLDR: another case where college sports is all about the money and non-revenue/Olympic sports get screwed.
Is this for real? It makes zero sense geographically, and the additional travel time would be a big disadvantage for away meets.
UCLA Michigan rivalry plz
Big 10 network needs to suck less for me to be okay with this
Why this is happening:
In the Pac-12 right now, UCLA/USC, which are the two schools that are really keeping the Pac-12 afloat in terms of media deals value, gets about 19-20 million a year in media rights.
It’s rumored with this move, it’ll be 100 million a year.
Me: soooo we can use some of that money to bring back men’s gym, right?
Wonder how UCLA scoring is going to change in the B1G since they’re notoriously strict. This whole realignment is wild for all NCAA sports
The transfer portal is WILD this off-season.
I’m not crazy about the idea of UCLA being hidden behind the BTN+ paywall, but then again I don’t have the Pac12 Network so it doesn’t make much of a difference to me. And maybe this would encourage the Big Ten to stop hiding gymnastics? I mean, UCLA can’t go viral if no one sees it.
Me as a fan: this makes no sense
Also me as a New Englander: you bet your ass I’d drive to see UCLA at Rutgers
As a Big 10 fan and Michigan employee I’m psyched.
These moves geographically don’t always make sense. The last time schools were added were Maryland and Rutgers. Those schools are pretty outside of the general Big 10 area but their tv market brings in the money that the Big 10 probably wanted.
If USC and UCLA wanted to leave the PAC 12 they don’t have many options and none make sense geographically.
I’m so intrigued to see how this plays out.
Whenever I think about the fact that West Virginia and Oklahoma are in the same conference I remind myself that geography doesn’t mean anything to college conferences, but this is still really stupid lol
That aside, Michigan vs UCLA would be very exciting for conference championships, though I think that leaves a hole in the Pac12 because who will be the new rival of Utah?? Cal is great and can definitely contend but there’s something about the vibes at UCLA vs Utah meets that is just unmatched…
I started to post an article on the same topic. This makes no sense. And travel budgets will eat up $ for the smaller sports and tie up a lot of athlete time.
I know this has all do with money (and football), but it doesn’t even make that much sense for football. 9 AM games for west coast fans when they’re on the road playing a noon game? 10 PM games for east coast fans when it’s a night game in CA? I have some questions on how this will impact TV ratings in the end.
It’s also such a strain on all of the other sports teams, especially the ones that compete many more games than football (12 for a regular season). These schools are forgetting that their athletes are students for the sake of making more money. It’s one thing to travel a few hours away, but multiple time zones away multiple times in a few weeks? Absolutely unsustainable. West Virginia got absolutely dragged through the mud when they joined the Big 12. This is even worse.
I can’t believe this is a legitimate thing. The travel requirements alone would be absurd.
Super conferences are coming. It’s all about Football and Basketball, sadly nobody cares about Olympic sports.
It’s official: https://twitter.com/UCLAAthletics/status/1542654725253763072
It’s so the big 10 can now be in 5 of the top 7 media markets in the country.
The pac 12 tv deal sucks.
https://twitter.com/wilnerhotline/status/1542597968296964096?s=21&t=oAMn5UdYPMDYT_eGliAhbg
This person is hinting at more possible additions to the Big 10. With a lot of Oregon, Washington, and UNC being thrown around as options. Could be interesting to see how the conference ends up?!
hahahahahaha my dad is going to have a conniption when he hears this, huge Michigan fan who HATES usc and cannot handle non-geographic conferences. I love it.